War. War never changes.
Take a look at any history book, and you'll see, that for years, people have killed for the same reasons. Gods, greed, or so called "justice". That's how mankind started, and that's how it ended.
When the earth just couldn't supply men with the resources their greed hungered for, nations went for each other's throats. Oil, coal, uranium, they were all excuses to push the button that would kill thousands, both the guilty and the innocent, leaving a green taint of radiation that would curse the land for years to come.
But what seemed like the end of the world was just the beginning of a new one. Those lucky enough were selected to live in the safety of Vaults. Large, underground bunkers, funded by the government and designed to hold hundreds of people for decades, or even centuries.
But the world that was waiting for them… well, it was not a forgiving one. Mutants, monsters, radiation, bandits and raiders. All plague the new home we call the Wasteland. While you might think the destruction we brought ourselves all those years ago would have woken us to what we are capable of, we simply cannot let go of our violent ways.
The world may have changed, but war… war never changes.

Chapter 1: Back on my feet

The first thought that came to my mind as I woke up, was that I must have had one hell of party. I haven't had a hungover in a really long time, so maybe that's why my head felt like it was about to burst. Not to mention my body was sore all over. My muscles felt like iron, my bones were heavy, and my joints were like rusted machinery.

I tried to raise my head, but failed instantly. Why did I feel so weak and tired? I tried to raise once again, but ended with the same result. Change of plans, now I turned to my left, in hope of figuring out where I was. My vision was a little blurry, and everything seemed to move in slow motion, but as my eyes took focus, I started to make out my surroundings. There were multiple shelves around the room, all cluttered with things I couldn't really make out from this far. Directly in front of me there was a desk and a single chair. Between said desk and me was a small metal table with all kinds of medical tools and equipment, like syringes, a scalpel, stimpaks and... blood? There was a small and short cup, and the liquid inside was red, although a bit transparent, water maybe? Resting in the cup was pincer, perhaps the origin of the blood.

Am in a hospital? A medical clinic? Multiple thoughts flooded my mind, pushing out a short and weak groan. The groan did not go unheard, for it was followed by a "Hum?". I looked around for the source of the voice, and noticed the chair I mentioned was not really empty. A humanoid shape dressed in the same brown and yellow as the background stood up from it's seat.

"You awake?" The voice sparked in soft surprise. "How about that."

Whatever instincts that were awake kicked in and urged me to get up, and as I did, the world started spinning.

An old but somewhat smooth voice came from the shape. "Whoa, whoa, take it easy."

It grabbed me, helping me sit on where I once laid. "You've been out cold a couple of days now." He said as he waited for me to regain my balance. I took a good look at my helper, who was just a few centimeters from my face. He was a bald, 60 year old-ish looking man with a white mustache. The world finally seemed to speed up and stand still, which now allowed me to stay in place without risking to puke or fall down face first into the floor.

"Now, why don't relax a second, just to get your bearings?" He offered, making sure one last time that didn't need help with being seated.

I let out another groan, this one louder. "Ugh... wh-where am I? What happened?" I let out with a weak voice.

"Calm down cowboy, let me see what the damage is. How about your name, can you tell me your name?" He asked, ignoring my questions. I was too confused and slow to bother, so I decided to do what he asked.

Taking longer that I'd have wished, I replied. "Court, It's Court."

"Just Court?"

"Tempest. Court Tempest"

"Can't say that's what I'd have picked for you, but if that's your name, that's your name." He let out with a soft laugh. What that supposed to mean? "I'm Doc. Mitchell. Welcome to Goodsprings,"

Goodsprings? Where is the hell is Goodsprings. I went over my mental map, trying to find out where it was. Failing to do that, I tried to remember the last place I recalled being. I was... on a road, somewhere between...? No... I just couldn't remember. Everything was just so damn fuzzy, and it was infuriating! What is happening to me?

Before I could go on trying to recover any lost memories, the old man continued. "Now, i hope you don't mind, but I had to go rooting around there in you noggin to pull all the bits of lead out. I take pride in my needlework, but you better tell me if I left anything out of place"

He didn't let me question why would anything be out place, instead he quickly pulled a machine from a shelf to his right and handed it over to me. It was mostly flat, about 2 palms wide, and the front face was made up by 2 screens, each taking one half of the machine. The screen on the left seemed to show my reflection, and the other had multiple options I could cycle and select. On the top, it read Reflectron, with the RobCo. logo right above it. I looked at my reflection, first noticing that my stubble had grown into a short beard. It kind of went well with my somewhat long black hair, which almost reached my shoulder.

Thee first two options that showed up to me on the right screen were Male and Female. Its seems my curiosity was up and awake, because I clicked on Female. Suddenly, my reflection changed for the image of a woman. She looked somewhat familiar, and then I realized it was more than just that, and that the woman was actually me! The nose and some of the bone complexion looked the same, but they were slightly thinner, the skin was smoother, and of course, the beard was gone.

"I'm afraid that's a little out of my capabilities." The doctor laughed. "But if you are looking for a single tweak or a haircut, then I can arrange it. I'll just have to sedate you a little."

I massaged my face, not believing the sight in the screen, and felt my short beard against my palm. Ok, I was still a man. I just didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed that I made quite a pretty woman. I switched back to male, and soon my face returned as I remembered it.

"I-I think I'm fine" I stuttered, returning the Reflectron. He put it back where it was before.

"No sense in keeping you in bed anymore, let's see if we can get you on your feet." He reached towards my arms, throwing my left on around his back. I placed my feet on the ground, and slowly raised my body off the bed. So far so good, I thought to myself, but soon after, my head span and my vision went blurry, once again. If it wasn't for the aid I was being given, I would have definitely tumbled to the floor. After making sure I could stand, the doctor let go of me.

"Good, why don't you walk down to the end of the room, over by that vigor testing machine? Take it slow now, it ain't a race" He said while pointing towards a tall wooden box with a glass pane on the front. As I walked closer to it, (without much struggle, surprisingly) I made out a column of numbers, and words beside each one. To right of that, there was a drawing of the popular Vault-Boy, but he was wearing nothing but a small tong, and he was all jacked up and muscular. On the top was written "Vit-O-Matic" and "Vigor Tester" and around the drawing were more words, the most notable being Strength.

Below all that, there was some sort of handle, like one you would see on those old word arcade machines. I looked at the doctor, who just gave a little not. I guess I'm supposed to play around with it?

I took hold of the handle, but it wouldn't budge. Without me doing anything, the machine started rattling. Some numbers started glowing with light, and soon after, the drawing and pretty much all the words spun backwards, being replaced with new ones. Strength was replaced with Perception, then Endurance, then Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and finally, Luck.

"Oh I get it." I thought out loud. It seemed to measure me in different aspects, or attributes, and give me level of 1 to 10 on each of them. I don't know how, but the machine decided I was lacking when it came to Strength, that I had a rather impressive Perception, regular Endurance, high Charisma, low Intelligence (have to admit, that kind of hit hard. I wasn't the brightest bulb in the room, but I usually know what I'm doing.), and high Agility.

When the machine turned to luck, the numbers lit one by one. Starting on one, it went on until it reached 10. "That's not right, you already used up all of your points." The doc sounded surprised.

"Used? Is this thing supposed to redefine who I am or something?" I asked, a bit curious.

"No, of course not, the points are just used as a way to measure peoples characteristics. It makes sense, if you think about it, if you spend all your life exercising, you will have great strength and endurance, but it would be no surprise if you were dumber than a rock. Don't ask me how it measures Luck, but so far, everyone gained the same amount of points."

The machine made more noises, taking back our attention. The number ten went dark, followed by nine, then the eight and so on, until all were dark. A few seconds later, they all began lighting up again, and with another few seconds, dark, once more. The cycle repeated twice more, until the machine's creaks slowed down and it went completely dark. No more noise, no more spinning words, no more numbers lighting up.

I let go of the handle, looking at the doc with a worried face. Had I just broken his… whatever that thing was?

To my surprise he just looked over at me with a smile. "Well, at least most of your vitals are good, and that old thing was bound to break down sooner or later. But that don't mean them bullets left you nuttier than a Bighorner dropping."

"Wait, bullets? What bullets?"

"It's... just a figure of speech." He replied with a laugh not as soft as the one earlier. "Come, why don't take a seat on my couch so I can ask you a few questions?"
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